


Strangers

by afterandalasia



Series: Femslash Yuletide 2014 [18]
Category: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Frozen (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Blizzards, Christmas, Community: disney_kink, Crossover Pairings, F/F, Femslash Yuletide 2014, Huddling For Warmth, Lesbian Elsa, Mechanic Audrey Ramirez, Post-Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-08-11 10:56:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7888546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterandalasia/pseuds/afterandalasia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts with a snowstorm, and a stranger, and a broken-down car. Luckily (for Audrey, or more likely for whomever would try to attack Audrey and only piss her off) it does not turn into quite such a horror story as that set-up would suggest.</p><p> </p><p>Written for Femslash Yuletide Day Twenty-Two, "Winter Travel".<br/>14:00 - Season</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strangers

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by both the Femslash Yuletide 2014 prompt (technically the Yuletide 2013 prompt, because I grabbed the wrong prompt list, whoops), and by [this](http://disney-kink.livejournal.com/11667.html?thread=6723987#t6723987) prompt from the Disney Kink meme. Also for the femslash100100 [prompt table](http://femslash100100.livejournal.com/3727.html) "Around the Clock", specifically "14:00 - Season".
> 
> It has been backdated to the appropriate day from Femslash Yuletide 2014; it was actually posted on 28th August 2016.
> 
> Set in the A:TLE timeline. This fic is set in 1924.

The snow was so thick that she could barely see out the windshield. Audrey cursed as she coaxed her car up the mountainside, already down in second gear and not particularly wanting to go any further no matter how deep the snow got. "Snow wasn't supposed to come in until next week," she muttered to herself. Even inside the car, she could see her breath.

But _of course_ Whitmore would decide that up here would be the best place to hold a Christmas celebration for the Atlantis crew. Ten years. She could feel the pendant below her thick sweater, cool but not uncomfortable against her skin. Now if she could only _get_ there, it would be a _pinche_ start.

She was definitely regretting not improving the heating system while she had been working on this beast.

A flicker of light on the road ahead made her frown, and as the land flattened out a bit she realised that there was another car pulled up to the side of the road. It was dark green, low-set; as she got closer, Audrey recognised it for a Chevy, a 490 series to judge by the shape of the cab. She shook her head when she saw a woman climb out of the side, a pale blue coat pulled tightly around her, and hurry round to the front of the vehicle.

"Here we go," Audrey muttered. Sure, more people owned cars nowadays, but that didn't mean that they knew how to look after them. And she wasn't going to leave the woman out here in a snowstorm.

She pulled in behind the Chevy, leaving the motor running, grabbed a flashlight from beside her, and climbed out the door. It was easier to wear mens' clothes when she travelled, and she had a cap pulled down low over her head. Perhaps it was that, or perhaps it was just that she must have pretty much _appeared_ out of the snow, that made the woman look up cautiously as she approached.

"Hey there!" Audrey called. She was sort of surprised to see that the woman didn't relax at the sound of a female voice. As she got closer, the woman came into better focus; she was pretty, with white-blonde hair and delicate features, and was wearing white leather gloves. "You all right?"

"Yes, thank you," said the woman, which was clearly not the case.

Audrey got close enough to get a proper look at the vehicle. The woman hadn't even managed to get the side of the car open for a proper look at the engine. "I'm a mechanic," she said, loud enough to be heard over the wind. "Want me to take a look?"

The woman hesitated.

"No charge," said Audrey, holding up her hands. "I like looking at engines."

Finally, the woman nodded. "Thank you," she said.

Audrey smiled, though she wasn't surprised when she didn't receive a smile in return. She opened up the side of the car and peered into the engine, having to squint through the snow even with the torch in her hand. The wheels had looked all right as she drove past, and she had to assume that the woman was not fool enough to have bought insufficient fuel with her. She checked that the clamps were tight on the terminals of the battery, looked over the belts for any signs of wear or slipping, and slipped off her gloves to check the temperature of the engine. It didn't look to have overheated.

"Do you know how the oil is?" she said to the woman, who was standing close enough to be in the light without being so close that they might accidentally touch.

"It was refilled before I left," the woman replied. So, not a complete fool when it came to cars, then.

Which left the usual suspect. Audrey grimaced. "It's probably the battery. I'm not carrying a spare. Come on, let me give you a lift to the hotel where I'm staying, and I'll see if one of my friends there can hook me up with a new battery."

"Thank you, but no," said the woman quickly. "I will be quite all right."

Was this woman completely insane, or just unaware of the weather? Audrey snorted and gestured around them with the torch. "In this weather? You'll freeze. Come on, it shouldn't be far now."

"If it's the hotel which I think you mean, my sister is staying there," said the woman. "If you could take a message to her, I would appreciate it, but I will be fine waiting."

This was absurd. Biting back the urge to curse whatever fool notion had gotten into this woman's head, to sit in a car without a heater in the middle of a blizzard, Audrey shoved her gloves back on and closed the car up again. "Look, lady, I don't know if you've noticed where we are, but this ain't a safe place to be waiting. Besides, if your sister is at the Arendelle Hotel as well, the easiest thing is going to be for me to give you a ride. I don't bite," she added, seeing the hesitation in the woman's eyes again.

A howl of the wind might have driven the point home, or perhaps she was just slow in making up her mind. "I will accept your offer," said the woman finally. "Thank you."

Audrey waved for the woman to follow her as she made her way back to her own car, though she could not help a glance over her shoulder to be sure that she was actually following. The wind was so strong that she had to give the door a good yank to open it, and slam it closed besides, and though Audrey did her best to brush the snow off herself she could feel it starting to melt. Strange; the car had felt cold before, but after being out in the snowstorm it was positively balmy.

She tugged off her coat before it soaked through, bundled it up, and shoved it under the seat just as the passenger door opened and the woman put in her travel case. Audrey helped to manoeuvre it to the back of the vehicle, and the woman herself climbed in. She sat as close to the door as possible, or perhaps as far away from Audrey; it was hard to tell.

"Audrey Ramirez," she said, tugging off one damp glove to extend a hand. "Got a Christmas celebration with some friends, up in the Arendelle."

The woman took Audrey's hand carefully, with a careful rather than weak grip, and did not remove her own gloves. "Elsa. I'm meeting family up there."

"A sister, right?" Audrey grabbed a couple of blankets out from under the seat, and pushed the better of them in Elsa's direction. Her coat looked expensive, though Audrey was not always the best judge of such things, and she held herself with a delicacy which Audrey hoped, with some irritation, was not because of the stripped-down, utilitarian look of the car. It was built to work, not to look good. "Here. I got a sister back in Detroit. Older. Yours?"

"Younger," said Elsa.

Not one for small talk, apparently. Audrey rolled her eyes to herself as she started up the engine again, pulled carefully back onto the road - or at least, the flat, treeless stretch of snow which she was sorely hoping was the road - and started to make their way onwards again. "It's not a bad car you've got," she said, after just long enough that the silence rankled. "I mean, most mass-produced cars can't handle snow like this." She patted the steering wheel. "Built this from a Ford base. It'll take on any weather you can throw at it."

"I'm glad to hear it." There was a little more warmth in Elsa's voice, which was at least a hopeful sign. "I was not anticipating weather like this."

"Eh, don't think anyone was, really. _Carajo!_ " she added as the wheels of the car tried to slide on ice beneath the snow's surface. The car jerked beneath her hands, and Elsa startled, grabbing at the dashboard. Audrey huffed. "Don't sweat it, I've driven in worse than this."

Elsa did not look too convinced, and kept her death-grip on the windscreen as they crawled on through the drifts. Audrey was just grateful that she was in a car that she had worked on herself, otherwise she was not sure that she would trust any machine in this weather. "You are used to the snow, then?" said Elsa finally.

"Detroit is good for that," said Audrey. She held them steady and kept looking forwards, though she did glance at Elsa out of the corner of her eye. "Got one of the first licences in the city, too. Don't think they've got them out here yet."

It always seemed strange to go back to Detroit and drive, not just because she got to see other cars, but because there were roadsigns and traffic police and all sorts of things to help make it safe. Not exactly like the rest of the world.

"No, I don't believe so," said Elsa.

So, perhaps Audrey had been too hasty. Small-talk was fine, as long as it wasn't personal. “Eh, motor city, it’s determined to stay ahead of things. My Pappi and me, we’ve got a shop there.”

“Some of a way, to come out here.”

Audrey shrugged, eyes firmly on the road for both their safety. “Eh, it’s worth it, for these guys. Worked with them a few years back, we went through some pretty tough times together.”

“It was not the war, was it?” said Elsa, then winced. “I am sorry, I should not have–”

“No, no,” Audrey said. “Not the war. Before that.”

She could feel Elsa’s curious look, that moment that everyone had when they tried to gauge just how old Audrey was. Twenty-nine was hardly old to begin with, but she could still have passed for a teenager. Then again, she would have been hard-pressed to guess Elsa’s age, either; her blonde hair and round face made her look young, but she moved with a poise and grace that made her seem older, somehow. Or at least like she had grown up younger.

Audrey knew that look, at least.

“We, uh, we had to accompany this linguist who was translating a map for us. East,” she waved vaguely. Technically speaking, Atlantis was east of the States, after all. “Man, keeping him going could be a job. Took all of us, at times. But we made it.”

“It’s him that you’re meeting again?”

“Not sure if he’s making it to the reunion. If not, the rest of us will be sure to tell the most embarrassing stories we can about him.”

To her surprise, Elsa giggled, a delicate sound that made Audrey glance round and smile a little more warmly. The woman held her hand over her mouth when she laughed, and it chased some of the poise away.

“Well,” Elsa said, composing herself again. “What are friends for?”

 

 

 

 

 

Somehow, they slipped into conversation more easily. Audrey found herself doing most of the talking, about foolish things that she or Vinnie or Sweet had done over the years. By the time that she was recounting some of Mole’s misadventures, Elsa seemed to have thawed as well, and started telling stories about things that she and her sister had done when they were children, or which her sister had done over the years generally. She had that warm, fond, older-sister look in her eyes that Audrey found so incongruous on Nina, but it looked oddly charming on her.

The snow became worse around them, and Elsa huddled deeper into her coat. Audrey stopped the car briefly while she dug her coat out again, found it largely dry, and pulled it back in. To her surprise, she also found a blanket beneath the seat, and dragged it out as well, spreading one part over her lap and offering the rest to Elsa.

“Come on, budge over.”

“I am fine.”

Audrey looked at her pointedly. “It is freezing. Come on. It will be warmer if you sit next to me. And I don’t bite, remember?”

She did feel a little bit bad about the reluctance in Elsa’s eyes as she shuffled over, but spread the blanket over both their laps and did not comment about the almost-suppressed shiver that she felt run through the woman.

“I’m sorry,” said Elsa finally. She had softened as their shared warmth seemed to suffuse the blanket, and relaxed so that her leg and arm did not feel so tense where they pressed against Audrey’s.

Audrey shrugged, half to herself. “What for?” She’d dealt with a lot over the years, both before Atlantis and after, and Elsa had proved to be fine at conversation, witty when the mood took her, and only a little standoffish. “Pick up strangers in the woods, you hear urban legends about them being murderers,” she added, making sure it was clear in her voice that she was teasing.

“For how I have acted. I am not… good with people, sometimes.”

Without looking away from the road, Audrey patted Elsa on the thigh. She felt Elsa jump, but decided not to draw attention to it. “It’s okay. You’re doing well enough with me.”

“Thank you,” said Elsa, gently.

“Besides,” Audrey continued, before the silence between them could grow too great. “We all have our moments. My Papi calls me abrasive, but you don’t want to _know_ what my Mama calls it.”

Elsa chuckled. “I think you would get on well with my sister. She is very good at making friends, but… she does not suffer fools gladly.”

“I like that phrasing,” said Audrey, with a pat of the steering wheel for emphasis. “I will have to remember it.”

They continued on, the conversation slowly creeping closer to something personal. Audrey talked about her sister, her father, the shop that they had, how her sister had risen to becoming a minor boxing star before retiring to open her own gym. Somewhat tentatively, and with some sadness in her voice, Elsa said that she had grown apart from her parents over the years, and almost from her sister as well. Something about the _almost_ suggested that the word _lost_ had nearly followed it.

“But two years ago,” she said, “we… sorted things out.”

“Something change?”

This time, Elsa’s laugh sounded more humourless than before. “You could say so. She got engaged.”

“Oh.”

“It did not work out. But everything that happened… it bought us together, in the end.”

Audrey thought of Atlantis, and of Rourke. “Strange how the worst things can have the best consequences.”

“That is a nice way to put it.”

 

 

 

 

 

They made it to within sight of the hotel – lights in windows, and a rectangular shadow against the snow trees – before a dip in the road made the snow too deep for even Audrey’s car. She could see the faint outline of other vehicles, closer to, but snow was on their rooves as well and it was clear that they had reached it before the snow became too deep.

She stopped the as close as she could, although it still did not feel all that close when the occasional thicker flurry made it hard to see the hotel at all. “Sorry,” she said. “The trail ends here. Come on, we can make it.”

“Oh, yes,” said Elsa. She looked over her shoulder, and went to reach for her luggage, but Audrey shook her head.

“Leave it. I’ll get a couple of the guys to wade out and give me a hand. Come on, let’s get you to your sister.”

For all that she and Nina argued, there was nothing quite like coming home and giving your sister a hug. And then getting punched in the arm, in her case, but that was probably just her family. Audrey shucked the blanket off her lap, and then put her shoulder to her door to open it into the driving wind. The cold air immediately sliced into the car, and Audrey muttered every English and Spanish curse she could think of as she climbed out, pulling her hat down tighter onto her head and barely releasing the door before it slammed back into place.

The snow was already shin-deep as she waded round to Elsa’s side and helped her get the door open. Elsa’s shoes – sensible enough, but not boots fit for this weather – sank into the snow, and she stumbled against Audrey as she got out of the car.

“Don’t worry,” said Audrey, though she was not sure whether she could be heard over the howling wind. “We’re nearly there.”

She put an arm around Elsa as they started towards the hotel, as much for her own anchoring as for Elsa’s if she were completely honest. Both of them together made a slightly better barrier against wind that tried to send them both falling sideways, even as the snow became knee-height, then started to creep towards their thighs.

Not far at all. Elsa stumbled beside her – silently, not even a curse, or it was lost to the wind – and would have fallen into the snow had Audrey not managed to catch her. Elsa’s face was a grimace of pain, and she clutched at her ankle with one hand for a moment before gritting her teeth and setting her eyes on the hotel.

“Nearly there,” Elsa said.

She took one step and her ankle almost went again. Probably twisted, Audrey figured, and half-numb from the snow besides. In an instant, Audrey made her decision, and shifted the arm around Elsa’s shoulders so that it went beneath her arms instead.

“Hang on,” she said, as loudly as she could over the wind.

Perhaps Elsa figured out what Audrey was about to do, or perhaps her surprised expression was still more to do with the ankle. In any case, Audrey scooped her other arm behind Elsa’s knees and picked her up; Elsa put her arms hastily around Audrey’s neck, and might have protested but it was _really_ getting hard to tell in the wind. And Audrey might not have been a match for her sister in strength but she was a mechanic, and certainly strong enough for this; Elsa was a warm weight in her arms against the bitter cold of the air, and she couldn’t help the slight smug warmth that came from being the knight in shining armour.

At its worst, the snow came to partway up her thighs, and she did worry about what might happen if it got deeper. But then it abated again, slowly freeing her legs from the cold wet cloy, and she strode on to the hotel itself, and the comparative lee that the building provided meant that the front step was covered in not much more than a scattering of snow.

It was Elsa who reached for the bell, one of the electric ones that had become even more popular since the war, keeping one arm hooked around Audrey’s neck even as she did so. Only once the bell had been pushed did she seem to relax, curling to rest her head on Audrey’s shoulder.

“My hero,” she said.

Audrey had to almost read her lips over the wind, but it was clear enough, and she grinned. “Eh, I try.”

She expected a laugh, or at least a smile. What she did not expect was for Elsa to hesitate, a look of almost shyness crossing her face, before she leant in and pressed a chilly kiss to Audrey’s cheek. Audrey felt herself blush, although it was a little hard to tell with the sting of the wind, before the door was hauled open by a tall man with short blond hair who ushered them in and put his shoulder to the door to get it closed again behind them.

“Kristoff,” said Elsa, sounding relieved.

The man addressed as Kristoff looked at them with some confusion, and Audrey realised that it might be better to put Elsa down. She allowed her to slide to the floor, as gracefully as they could both manage, as a young woman with red hair came running into the room and practically threw herself into Elsa’s arms.

“Elsa! Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay, when the weather got bad–”

“I had a rescuer,” said Elsa, hugging the woman back. Audrey suspected that it was the younger sister, even before the woman turned around to reveal that, aside from a distinctly greater number of freckles, she was pretty much the spitting image of Elsa.

Definitely the younger sister.

“Audrey Ramirez,” said Audrey, extending her hand. “I’m here with the Whitmore party.”

“Oh. Oh! Of course,” said the woman. When she shook Audrey’s hand, her grip was impressively firm, and she smiled. “I’m Anna Arendelle. Thank you so much for helping my sister.”

“Elsa… Arendelle?” Audrey looked at Elsa in surprise. It was one thing to say that you were going to a hotel; it was quite another to say that your family owned the hotel, and indeed the entire business. Elsa’s cheeks were pink, but that was probably just the cold. “I did not catch that.”

“No,” said Elsa, making it sound a little bit like she was admitting something. Her smile turned apologetic. “I try not to make too much use of my name.”

“Well, I just wish my car had been a little warmer.”

Elsa laughed, another of those giggles that she hid behind her hand, then stepped close again – gingerly on her twisted ankle – to take Audrey’s hand. Definitely not a handshake, though; too soft, fingers lingering, and her eyes seemed aglow. “The car might have been cold, but the company was not,” she said. “And with this weather, I would imagine that we will see more of each other in the next few days.”

Audrey smiled. “I think I’d like that, too.”


End file.
